Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1887-12-08
THE DEL.USIvE TRADE DOLLARS.
Making Them Into Bricks az the As
shy Omce-Ireasures of the Vaults.

On recent Friday afternoon. says
The NeW YorG Tribune, the last melt"
of the 3,495. 533 trade dollars which
! have been received at the United States
assay Office in Wall street since the act
OF congress authorizing their purchase
went into effect was completed. and the
limpid silver was poured into the
moulds and transformed into silver
bricks, l, 100 to l. 200 ounces in weight
A 'melt" OF silver ut the
assay Office means five thous-
and ounces. Therefore, in order
to make way with the whole num-
Der of the $500, 900 trade dollars about
seven ''melts" were necessary. A re-
porter Glanced to be present and stood
near the crucible when these last repre-
sentatives of a dead currency slowly
lost their individuality and became II
shapeless, glittering mass. Their
career was not of honor.
What is denOminated an enclosure"
in one of the vaults of the ASSAY office
contains over four hundred cubic feet
of trade dollars which have passed
the crucible and are now stacked up in
the shape OF silver bricks. The COVER
ment has pad about So, 400. 900 for
them, but they are useless, Supt.
Andrew Mason says, and usless made
into standard dollars. Il loss of about 25
per cent. would be sustained in dispos-
ing of the metal To manufacturers and
artisans. The furnishing of gold and
liver bars for manufacturing purposes
is. Supt. Mason says. II growing bust
ness at the assay Office. During the
past year these bars, to the value of
$4,000, 600 have been sold for use in
arts and manufactures, an increase of
So 600, 900 over any previous year.
When the last ''melt' of the trade
dollars had been poured into the molds.
and made into brick. the reporter OBJ
served that two small quantities, per-
haps of Il gran or two each. were put
into little reccptacles and sent to the
assay ng-room. These" explained
Assistant Assayer j. L. Wilder, "are
the samples for assaying. Two are
taken from each melt" They are
each assayed by different persons. and
their work must tally. If it does not
the work is repeated. If the two as
says fail to agree the whole melt is re-
melted and fresh samples taken. Then
the process is gone through with again.
"The greatest care is TAKEN said
Mr.. Wilder, "to gaurd against mac
curaces. The assaying is done by the
Gay Lussac method The exact
amount of metal is weighed and dis
solved in nitric ac'd Then enough
chlorine is added to precp.tate pre-
cisely drachm of pure silver. The
solution is then shaken for three nm
utes in shaking machine (run by
steam). after which it is allowed to set
tie More salt water is added, every
atom of VIII CHI is taken account of, and
if any silver remains in solution it
shows a slight cloudness The opera
ton is repeated until no cloudness APP
pears. showing that no silver rema rs
in solution; that it has all been precipi-
tated. Then a calculation is made as
TO the exact linoness of the samples
of silver in the trade dollar, which is
corrected by silver proofs. When the
fineness is thoroughly ascerta ned it is
stamped upon the bar or brick
which has been formed by the
melted dollars, together with the value.
weight. melt number, and the number
OF the bar. Then the bar or brick is
sent to the Enclosure before mentioned,
where the other trade-dollar' bricks
are kept under combination safe lock.
The comb nation of this. us well rs of
the other safe locks in the building, is
known only to Supt, Mason and one
other trusted oilic al. )"
The antiquatea building used as the
| assay office was formerly the sub-treas-
ury. 1t has been occupied for its pres
ent purposes since the year 1854. and
the work and bus ness done there have
long since outgrown it. The old tene-
| ment shakes perceptlDly When heaVlly
loaded truck passes in the street in
front of it, interfering with the ascer-
tanning of weights upon the delicate
little scales used by Assistant Assayer
Wilder, upon which he is able to dis
cover the specific gravity of an object
almost infinitesimal--an eye-winker,
for instance. Ho often calculates for
visiting statesmen the exact weight of
their signatures, minus tho gravity Of
the paper upon which they are written.
The sum, Mr.. Wilker remarked often
represented the weight of the respective
statesmen's political influence after
they had been registered among the
"has BEEN The reporters visit TO the
gold-rooms revealed many things Curl
Gus and interesting. Here were bags OF